Thread: Crown Cryogenic Steel woodturning chisels

I have two of them, they are really good, so much so, that in their respective sizes, they are my go to chisels.

I have the 25mm skew chisel, measured at 24mm a few moments ago. This skew chisel has rounded edges making it quite easy to roll on the tool rest as well as being less likely to put dents into a soft tool rest. My current tool rests all have a hardened steel rod, so getting nicks is pretty much in the past for me.

Cryogenic 6

The second one is probably my most used chisel, it is a spindle gouge 10mm, measured a few moments ago at 9.1mm diameter. This chisel is superb, it is capable of really clean peeling of material for quite some time. The only issue is with chatter if I extend it somewhat from the tool rest. Not an issue really as there is a limit to how far you should extend and how far you really do extend.

Cryogenic 7

Both of these chisels have only ever been sharpened on a Tormek, so they have never been subjected to grinding heat, as well as bulk material being taken off during sharpening. They are slightly harder to shape, but once you have your desired shape, they take seconds to re-sharpen on the Tormek. They also hold their edge for longer than the conventional Crown chisels. I know this as I have an identical 10mm (9.2mm) spindle gouge and it doesn't last quite as long in soft wood and certainly is not as good with really hard woods.

Crown handles are the best I have used, so good that I gave a couple of my other chisels the same shaped handles. Both of the cryogenic chisels I have, run with their smallest handle. This size is very easy to twist and twirl around various shapes as you turn and are ergonomically great.

I have had these two from the day Timbecom started stocking them in their previous Melbourne store. I happened to be there one day when they were unwrapping them, I had to wait until they had them in their system before they could sell them.

Mick.

Thanks Mick, I will most likely give them a go as I'm nearing replacement time on some of my P&N's. I have recently bought a couple of Hamlets which I'm also
finding quite good. As far as sharpening goes I will soon be replacing my white wheel with a CBN so that should help.

Not Crown specific, but...

From my experience with any 'cryo' chisels, they hold their edge longer than most steels but are prone to more damage of the cutting edge should they hit foreign objects.

One case I recall took a triangular chunk of about 5mm depth from one corner; a pita (and a waste of steel!) to grind out.

For this reason I tend to use 'em mainly for finishing cuts, although I'll occasionally use 'em for hogging out large, soft blanks that are... 'safe' in my opinion.

I'll always use my dedicated roughing gouges for preliminary roughing.

Thanks Andy, I'm going to try a couple and see how I go.